tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87804130259890708132017-02-08T06:51:53.803+02:00EDEN PARADIGM<strong>A JOURNEY IN SEARCH OF WISDOM THAT BRINGS ORDER OUT OF CHAOS IN THE NATURAL WORLD</strong>CYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8780413025989070813.post-44633737465421883342010-06-20T18:17:00.000+02:002010-06-20T18:17:37.982+02:00LEARNING CURVES<o:smarttagtype name="PlaceName" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype name="PlaceType" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype name="place" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:smarttagtype><style><!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --></style><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l132/Cyara248/GENERAL%20UPLOADS/100_2013Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l132/Cyara248/GENERAL%20UPLOADS/100_2013Small.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Momster Pumpkin growing between<br />precious young Moringa trees</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>I learned some important lessons this last season.</b></span><br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>I had a favourite pumpkin go rotten before I had a chance to even cut into it. Desiring not to waste it, I hauled this mess into my new <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Food</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Forest</st1:placetype></st1:place> bed, and just squished it all into the soil. The resultant plants were magnificent and like some welcome monster it grew and grew from one bed to another until it reached beyond and onto the lawn by the wash lines. In my exuberance at its splendour I had no heart to cut it back in any way; I was too curious to see how big it could really grow, little thought being given to what I would do with hundreds of pumpkins. That proved of little consequence anyway. The Vervet Monkeys thought it all a splendid experiment too and feasted first on the blooms, then on the tiny fruit and then on the larger pumpkins later. They have the advantage over me; I like to wait for it to mature and ripen before considering it food. Ah, well. I need dogs again.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Dogs require fencing to keep them separate from potentially unhappy neighbours. I have hit on a marvelous plan to get me some fencing up. I am going to do a living fence. Right within my price bracket…..free! </b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l132/Cyara248/GENERAL%20UPLOADS/TecomariacapensisCAPEHONEYSUCKLEto8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l132/Cyara248/GENERAL%20UPLOADS/TecomariacapensisCAPEHONEYSUCKLEto8.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful and useful Honeysuckle</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>I plan to use the berries of the Chinaberry planted along the border of my <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Food</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Forest</st1:placetype></st1:place> and let my fence poles grow in place. When each trunk is thick and strong I will pollard them off at perhaps 2-3 meters. The wood makes excellent firewood so the loppings and prunings will be useful. I will then weave honeysuckle between to make a living fence. Honeysuckle is so pretty and fragrant and is animal fodder too. It grows like a weed here.</b></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>We are leaving autumn and going into winter and so I will have plenty of Chinaberry seeds available shortly.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>PS: I have just learned that monkeys can be chased away by hanging CDs around where they frequent. They move in the wind and the light catching them is supposed to frighten them off. Willing to give it a go! Won’t that be a hoot if something so simple does the job! </b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Until next time,</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Chelle</b></span></div>CYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8780413025989070813.post-11138618041007378772010-06-01T17:20:00.000+02:002010-06-01T17:20:14.103+02:00WHEN EVERYTHING SEEMS TO BE FALLING APART<div style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l132/Cyara248/BLOG%20PICS/photo_972_20060201ChanceAgrella-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l132/Cyara248/BLOG%20PICS/photo_972_20060201ChanceAgrella-1.jpg" width="167" /></a><b>I have this dream so big in my soul that sometimes when I talk of it to people they want to come and see. I have learned to explain that my dream is still a work in progress : ) That it is not yet complete. </b></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><b>I run at it full tilt, and am sometimes sharply slapped down by unexpected disappointment. I have learned that there is no more uncompromising teacher than God, the Creator, and His creation. His lessons fill my life inexorably and patiently; and I have come to love it - after I have survived the disappointment; for every part of every lesson acts as a mirror to my soul. I have fancied myself so humble, till humbled by this world that is so unsusceptible to persuasion. I have fancied myself so deserving, until disappointment asked for courage and endurance instead. And I have laughed so big inside over large gifts in tiny parcels; like a precious plant that has managed to survive despite the odds, or a seed that germinates when I have been told it never would. Then I know I have been kissed by a Father so loving that He wants to show me He is watching, and that He is loving my loving too.</b></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Getting my Food Forest structured and in place has stretched me to my physical limits some days. And the pace, so slowly matching the growing vision, can threaten discouragement when tired. I have learned not to assess anything when tired. I will usually have a very skewed perspective. And when, after a long season, I learn that I have made many mistakes, then it is easy to think that my life is doing more unraveling than progress made. How long it seems to take for me to learn. And then how long it takes for me to apply what I have learned.</b></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><b>But strangely, it is only when everything seems to be falling apart that I learn that He is still holding it all together. Who was I fooling in thinking I was keeping anything together anyway? Humbled in soul at majestic magnificence in detail and abundance I have been reduced down to size and found in it the secret to unlocking many treasures.&nbsp; Step by step and day by day of learning and doing can accumulate into joyous results.&nbsp;</b></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><b>And in all the struggles I have discovered that the journey is as important as those joyous results.</b></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Until next time,</b></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Chelle</b></div>CYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8780413025989070813.post-11118204004693667702010-05-08T18:06:00.000+02:002010-05-08T18:06:17.377+02:00APPRECIATING MATURITY<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.saynotocrack.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/forest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.saynotocrack.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/forest.jpg" width="133" /></a><b>The Forest has to be, for me, the quintessential pattern of ecological success. Let it give some space to a wetland and the fringes giving support to various grains, and it is complete. But it is the multi-storey functionality of a forest that really fascinates me.</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>In a forest every part of the soil is covered; plants easily stretching out and up in rich variety with leaf and bark litter settled between - nothing is left bare and vulnerable. Wind, rain and sun are moderated by the different layers of canopy and ground-cover, giving protection to the soil and assisting a constant regeneration of new life on the forest floor. A multitude of micro-climates give full sanctuary to all the dynamics of plant, animal and insect life. Billions of organisms that we do not even begin to fully appreciate thrive in this productive medium, giving and taking in ways we can never hope to reproduce artificially. </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>Alive and clean. Who has not walked a forest floor and deeply breathed tof he living freshness? And we can go back year on year and see this living organism sustaining macro and micro systems from enormous reserves patiently built up over time. I go with eyes and heart wide open to see and learn. </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>A forest, untouched, spans the years from childhood to old age. It brings continuity and quiet sanity. Everything is used and recycled; there is no toxic waste-dump. It brings forth life from death, and maintains equilibrium of macro and microcosms that never get out of balance if left alone. And should an invader try to move in, the compound cycles of life within this giant organism envelope and smother it, unless it is able to find some small niche and enter into the equilibrium. </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>This is a living tapestry. The rustle of the leaves, the birds in joyous background cacophony, and a quietness loud with jubilant busyness. Does the peace not pour into every empty part of your soul? In your growing stillness do you not become more alive? Do your eyes begin to see more, and your ears begin to hear more? Aaah…... this is Goodness on display. This is a handiwork that gives the heart pause to sit in awe and renewal. </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>It has been said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. </b><b>Everything that a forest offers I want to build on my land. It contains all that a mature eco-system can offer. The basic structure I can give, but I know that Father God has added the rest; it cannot but bring forth the life He originally spoke into it. I know He loves when I see His untouched handiwork. </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b></b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>Until next time,</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>Chelle</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div>CYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8780413025989070813.post-57021540795998410282010-04-28T19:44:00.002+02:002010-04-28T20:07:22.806+02:00INCREASING THE PACE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.alpinescape.com/images/photos/beforeafter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="122" src="http://www.alpinescape.com/images/photos/beforeafter.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>When driving through immaculate suburbia, it is impossible not to notice the pocket gardens of clipped and edged lawns bordered with pretty little annuals in tasteful splodges of colour. Occasionally you may see a tree, and even here and there be surprised by a hedge, sadly boxed into a shape that screams out madness against the vigour and fecundity that nature so generously seeks to give. Call in the landscape artist to tame your outdoor living space, and should you find that the rigorous effort to maintain this state of uniformity is generally managed by degrees of drudge, then this job can be offloaded on a garden service doing its weekly rounds. I have to ask: What is the point? Lay out some plastic lawn and be done with it. </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>What am I seeing? Ecologically I am looking at a piece of earth constantly kept at a juvenile stage. Pioneering weeds keep trying to bring in bio-diversity as they attempt to endlessly fill the earth that stretches brown and neatly cultivated from one plant to another. They are ripped out each week to start over and over again in an attempt to cover that naked and hurting soil. It is an endless battle; a battle between natural processes and the “Owner”. Neither ever wins in this contest, unless said owner moves on and no duplicate replacement moves in.&nbsp; And then most would think the battle lost, for it has been lost to nature.</b><br /><br /><b>I have seen some who love to pour their time and effort into these ecologically immature creations. I understand this. There was a time I was just so. Everything nature would provide for free I tried to give with love and tending. And each year the season would end and the garden would die. How I exhausted myself with such unsatisfactory returns on my time. I had to notice that where I loved to walk in natural settings there had been no such "love and tending", and yet I sensed in these wild wonderlands a response from the very core of my soul that time and so much effort had failed to replicate. These tamed arrangements bring a tamed response. There are&nbsp; no surprises, or special gifts or discoveries.</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>Instead of fighting this pointless battle, we can rather enlist the help of nature, and even encourage accelerated succession toward a more rapid maturity. A mature garden needs little tending. It can be beautiful too; but with a beauty that is blessed by&nbsp; the magnificent bounty of a generous dynamic we call Mother Nature.&nbsp; A misnomer - it is Father God. And in all this abundance most of the work entails harvesting, or cutting back vigorous growth to be used for mulch, compost or even free animal feed.&nbsp;</b><br /><br /><b>Where the dominant plants in an immature system are annuals, the governing plants in a mature system are perennial. In this progression from one to the other, bio-systems become more complex, organic matter builds up, and the ecology diversifies into an inter-related and exponentially developing synergy that gives back more than the sum of its individual parts. We need to increase the pace of succession until a balance is realized in which the contest is replaced by a pleasing serendipity of discovery and enjoyment. We share in what nature is so good at doing without the drudge. Plant perennials in many and varied textures, shapes, heights and colours, along with those pretty self-seeding annuals between, and watch nature move in and smile a bounteous thank you for letting her get on with the job.&nbsp;</b><br /><br /><b>Wisdom brings maturity and rest.</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>Until next time,</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>Chelle</b></div>CYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8780413025989070813.post-40311462401017840602010-04-16T11:41:00.004+02:002010-04-16T12:10:48.104+02:00KEEPING IN STEP........ AND ENJOYING THE MARCH<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/S8guGu2kvDI/AAAAAAAAASE/muCitHYgTeQ/s1600/100_2003-1%20%28Small%29.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="106" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/S8guGu2kvDI/AAAAAAAAASE/muCitHYgTeQ/s400/100_2003-1%20%28Small%29.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>When taking a broad scale overview on how to start out establishing this miracle of farming sustainability - the Food Forest – those first chosen plants are important considerations.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>I started with Moringa and Mulberry as priorities on my list, amongst the usual orchard trees. I have already posted my reasons in earlier posts; the main being food and fodder. The Mulberries pop up here like weeds and are encouraged. The Moringa was carefully and lovingly introduced. </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>I would call my Food Forest more of a backyard design than an extensive open range forest. Richard Hart, when interviewed, suggested that to start a Food Forest you only have need to take Overstory fruit tree species and plant them with the usual required 20 foot distance apart. Then to take more shade tolerant trees and plant them between, with shrubs such as berry bushes snuck in between all these, and level by level work down to ground and root crop level. Climbers and creepers could be placed as best suited too, probably up against the highest trees. This has given him a very successful Food Forest, and greatly aids us in understanding how really simple it all can be. </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>In a backyard design certain little personal tweaks can by used in an attempt to maximize all that the location has to offer. I have a river of water below that I will be using, and so am well on my way to building little reservoirs below my pathways for underground irrigation; a little “tweak” that is expensive in terms of labour and time initially, but will pay off handsomely later with a forest of thirsty plants above. No evaporation of a precious resource when delivered. This is over and above all other water harvesting techniques I hope to employ.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>I also have an abundance of boulders, rocks and stones here. If I was asked what it is that I farmed, I could easily reply: Rocks! I have certainly enjoyed harvesting them for multiple uses. And the sifted soil is returned between layers of bio-mass and manure into raised beds for planting.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>What do you have in your hand? Use it! Use it in step with nature and her end design, and join me in marching alongside with pure enjoyment........... : )</b></div><b><br /></b><br /><b>Until next time,</b><br /><b>Chelle</b>CYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8780413025989070813.post-55035822846844977252010-04-14T20:12:00.001+02:002010-04-16T11:51:02.583+02:00HAVE WE THE EYES TO SEE THESE WONDERS?<meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"></meta><meta content="Word.Document" name="ProgId"></meta><meta content="Microsoft Word 11" name="Generator"></meta><meta content="Microsoft Word 11" name="Originator"></meta><link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CMichelle%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link><style>
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</style> <br /><div class="MsoNormal">When we look at a piece of degraded and bare earth, it looks like a wounded gash in the green mantle that the Earth dresses herself with.&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.plant-shed.com/images/weeds00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.plant-shed.com/images/weeds00.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">I always marvel at how quickly this is colonized by rapid growing pioneer plants. We call them weeds. And most traditional gardening is wrapped around how to prevent their presence in the neat brown spacing between prized plants. They are seen as messy and unwelcome, but are, in fact, an essential start to the healing and restoration of the land. They rapidly cover the nakedness of the earth, thus protecting from erosion the life of the soil as they draw up nutrients, sometimes from great depths, to the top, and distribute this wealth in the form of leaf litter. They also act as nurses for more enduring herbs, shrubs and baby trees by creating a protective niche for the next stage of succession; one plant succeeds another in ever growing size and longevity.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The Earth is constantly marching toward productivity; she is obeying the original instruction to produce after her own kind – once given and forever obeyed. There seems to be nothing she does not seem to want to break down and use for more productivity; even that neglected and rusted garden gate, or forgotten pile of discarded bricks. And the march is toward forest bio-diversity or wet-land abundance. There is no holding her back. Step in line or be worn down by her persistent endurance; each niche set to creating succession and increased bio-diversity.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I have chosen to step in line and watch and learn. It is a wonderful movement of glorious life demonstrated in over-correction and modification in a determined attempt to bring order out of functional chaos. Watch her cover the land, and then reach for the skies with larger and stronger plants, to cover our Earth in generous abundance. Slowly and incrementally “wonderful” unfolds. Have we the eyes to see these wonders?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Until next time,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Chelle</div>CYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8780413025989070813.post-16581690971796843672010-04-09T15:19:00.000+02:002010-04-09T15:19:34.562+02:00ISN’T EVERYTHING ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.wunderground.com/data/wximagenew/s/seflagamma/1447.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://www.wunderground.com/data/wximagenew/s/seflagamma/1447.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>I have always been fascinated by the concept of Companion Planting. Plant the carrot with the onion to repel the onion fly, and the onion with the carrot to repel the carrot fly; such a neat and tidy arrangement on a page as you read it. I even went so far as to design on a clean new page the best way to place all the plants I wanted to effect such benefit. It became very complicated because some books listed certain plants as good companions, but in others this was contradicted. And the only plants discussed were herbs and vegetables. My great interest of the moment is Food Forest Design, and so naturally I got to thinking about how this would work in a Forest Garden; particularly a Food Forest Garden. Here we are looking at a multi-storey design from top-story trees down to root crops, and this is where the challenge comes.<br /><br />There seems to be a common struggle in trying to understand the concept of actually starting a Food Forest. Talk of the bio-diversity, multi-level guilds, sustainability, succession and ecology of a Food Forest and before too long you get quite a few nodding heads; but talk of actually going out there on your own piece of land and doing it, and all the theory makes the task seem too daunting to start. <br /><br />Let me make a suggestion: Ask a few simple questions. Why do you want a Food Forest? What do you want to grow in your Food Forest? Food! Naturally! But what kind of food, and for whom? Is there livestock and wildlife you also want to cater for? When thinking of wildlife, would this include beneficial birds and insects too? Do you want your Forest to offer more than food? Perhaps you need a windbreak or frost barrier? Perhaps wildcrafting really interests you? Perhaps even an area drenched in fragrance that affords sanctuary from the crazy demands of this world. Brainstorm such ideas in order to surface what you hope to achieve.<br /><br />When you have a good idea of where you want to go, simply ask yourself: What goes with what, and why? If you do this plant by plant it becomes less complicated. It’s all about relationships anyway, isn’t it?<br /><br />Until next time,<br />ChelleCYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8780413025989070813.post-41622989964330348122010-03-29T21:35:00.000+02:002010-03-29T21:35:22.375+02:00INDIGENOUS.... EXOTIC.... OR BOTH?<meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"></meta><meta content="Word.Document" name="ProgId"></meta><meta content="Microsoft Word 11" name="Generator"></meta><meta content="Microsoft Word 11" name="Originator"></meta><link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CMichelle%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link><style>
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</style> <br /><div class="MsoNormal">The popular trend seems to be to favour indigenous plants and tearing out all exotics. There is almost a superior sense of righteousness expressed to those lower mortals who do not give over their land completely to this worthy cause. I find it sadly short-sighted. I understand that the motivation is to help the earth, but little is really achieved toward such an admirable goal.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I ask myself: This all sounds pretty good in casual social banter, but is this truly ecologically sound? A landscape filled with wild plants that give no human food makes the landowner dependant on the farmer who has no such ideals of natural and indigenous planting. If we are not feeding ourselves as much as possible we are feeding into a system of agri-business that is destroying land and soil structure in rapacious greed that balances inputs and outputs with short-term cash flow objectives alone. We could always buy from the organic market, it is said. But how many do? Personally, the travelling involved rather defeats the purpose.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">How many locally indigenous plants will feed us? We are most often fed by exotics. We need to expand our vision to a wider perspective: How do we reduce pressure on planet wellness?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I believe we should create natural habitats tweaked with enough exotics as food for the landowner to sustain himself as far as possible. If enough people do this it will reduce the demand on agri-business products and thereby decrease land for this kind of use. This now is something to feel good about. A feel good that is more sensible in terms of effective return.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I often hear it said that exotics just take over. In an ecologically balanced environment they do not. They take hold where land has been disturbed and new sun-filled edge created, and where nature strives to use pioneer plants to cover the bare earth as fast as possible. Nature will use whatever is available; whatever will grow fastest without deterrents. These will be exotics if the seed bank of the soil has such seed available. There are not the usual checks and balances in terms of pests, etc. to keep such plants in check. Get ahead in the game and plant - in co-operation with nature - a mix of plantings that are not invasive but will crowd out weeds and exotics, and you will watch with each succession more and more balance returned to the disturbed landscape. The key is balance: increase yield while preserving natural habitat by creating a landscape that works just the way nature does.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Plant exotics that feed us, within a diversity of multi-level natives, and you will have created something that is truly adding wellness to the earth; you will be partaking in the age old joy of abundant food produced with care and understanding.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Until next time,</div><div class="MsoNormal">Chelle</div>CYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8780413025989070813.post-3438273911707459212010-03-23T19:02:00.006+02:002010-03-23T21:13:46.043+02:00STARTING OUT WITH MORINGA SEED......Back <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/S6kNnfkoXoI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/xUXypjuUwIs/s1600-h/100_2004-3+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 171px; height: 202px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/S6kNnfkoXoI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/xUXypjuUwIs/s400/100_2004-3+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451903796049895042" border="0" /></a>in August I wrote about this miracle tree, the Moringa. I am designing my Food Forest largely around this tree, among others.
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<br />Moringa seeds do not need sunlight for germination. I soaked my seeds for 24 hours and then placed them in nursery bags where daily watering was easy. They are drought resistant when mature but thirsty when young. They should surface between 1 to 2 weeks. I have had some come up even later than that, when I thought no more would come up. I placed the bags in good light under some trees to shade the young trees. They love sunlight but at this stage need protection from scorching heat.
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<br />Instead of planting straight off into nursery bags you could place the soaked seeds in a clear plastic bag and store in a warm dark place, like a drawer. This way you can see those that have germinated and those that have not. The see-through plastic will enable you to do this without disturbing moisture levels in the bag. They are viable for a year and have no dormant period, so unless you have old seed you should have a good percentage germinate. Add no extra water when doing this, but check them daily for sprouting. Once sprouted it is easy enough to see which side of the sprout is leaf by the little ruffles. Care needs to be taken not to damage them as they are very fragile at this stage. Plant them in nursery bags one and a half centimeters beneath soil surface. Use the best quality potting soil. They will break surface very quickly. This last time around I lost some at this early stage of growth because bugs find them tasty morsels. In future I will guard against this by placing cardboard tubes over the young seedling breaking ground, and see if this helps.
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<br />Plant out at about 8 weeks. This must be done with great care because they hate having their roots disturbed. Should roots tear in the transplanting it can set the tree back some time, or even kill it. Never water just before breaking the bag to plant. Guess how I know this..... This will almost guarantee soil falling away and tearing off roots. Now I leave off watering the day before transplanting - to tighten the soil - and only water for that day when transplanted. I have planted mine in beds built with the lasagna style of layering: Browns, greens, manure and soil in layers, with enough soil on top. Do not put the manure right near the roots after planting; let them establish and mine for it. This is basically like planting them in a compost heap and those grown this way get a head start way ahead of those just planted in the ground. Ensure they get the maximum sunlight you can give them when planting out.
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<br />You can plant them out to accomodate full tree size about 3 meters apart, or plant them closer should you be planning on cropping consistantly for leaves. One thing that is important to mention is that they naturally shoot up to as high as 12 meters, and then you just wave goodbye to those precious leaves ...... unless you know how to climb trees as well as the monkeys. : ) You can of course salvage this situation by pollarding [this is merely cutting back at a desired height and allowing shoots to grow]. Coppicing [cutting back at ground level] will give you a very low growing bush. This is not an attractive tree and so more suitable for commercial enterprises. To tame the rapid upward thrust I pinch off the growing tip when they get to about 60cm in height . The pic above is at the right height to start doing this. The tip is so tender you can just use your fingers. This will ensure that the tree branches off and bushes out instead of shooting up. I then further encourage this by harvesting off branches after the second set of leaves on each branch - cut back to about 20cm long. This can be done up to 4 times to keep increasing bushy-ness. Stop then to allow for flowering.
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<br />Another way to get trees started is by using hardwood cuttings that are about half a meter to one and a half meters long. These can be planted directly in sandy soil with about one third buried. This is a good way to get many new trees, but the down-side, I have heard, is that they are more easliy uprooted in a storm due to the inferior root development.
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<br />Happy growing! : )
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<br />Until next time,
<br />Chelle
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<br /></span><span style=";font-family:&quot;;" ><o:p></o:p></span> CYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8780413025989070813.post-24308918626181602052010-03-15T20:37:00.004+02:002010-03-15T21:23:19.005+02:00COMPLETE SELF-SUFFICIENCY - A MYTH?I watched the movie "Far and Away" again with Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise, and even second time around felt the thrill of the great pioneering age of laying claim to land and building that homesteading dream. The possibilities are imagined as endless and idyllic.<br /><br />Real life carried on after the movie.... and I got to thinking about what life must have really been like out there on those lonely plains. No internet to cruise, no happy-making movie to watch. And no-one to talk to all day for most of them - men or women. The workload would have been exhausting as pushed by the demands of each season. It took great courage to face that aloneness, I think, and still keep the dream alive. When children came the demands would have grown at first as each new-comer made its own demands. But as the family grew each member would have had an increasingly important role to play. The family would have become closely knit in the common struggle to make a living. Honour and character had meaning and value back then.<br /><br />Were they self-sufficient? They had to be, or they would not survive. But is it possible today? Would our mindset accept the many limitations imposed by producing everything for ourselves? Do we have the same scope for success in such a goal in this age, or is it a myth?<br /><br />Personally, I think it a myth in today's world for most. We do not have the huge range to go and hunt our meat. We do not have the freedom to make the choice to do so even should we be near such wild abundance, nor even every choice we might want on our own land. Every part of life is regulated in order to be taxed and re-taxed. We would have to fall off the grid as a person and go and live in one of the remaining wildernesses. I have read some interesting books by some who have done just that for a while. The loneliness was a real enemy to be faced, especially when snowed into a tiny cabin with only a dog, beloved and faithful though he be, as company.<br /><br />But that all said, I still believe a shift toward self-sustainability - no matter how partial - is a wonderfully enriching experience. And if done in community, then the increase in benefits is exponential. Skills and produce can be shared or bartered. People can become valuable and appreciated again; from the youngest to the oldest. Society could heal its wounds slowly and surely. Could I give up the advantages of our techno age? Nope. And why should I? It can be incorporated into the dream. We would not be sharing ideas right now without it!<br /><br />Just some thoughts...<br /><br />Until next time,<br />ChelleCYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8780413025989070813.post-9158169474327554252010-03-03T16:08:00.004+02:002010-03-12T17:24:46.151+02:00TALUS GARLAND EFFECT<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/S45wMZtzG4I/AAAAAAAAAN4/N7ZCNVGO8fQ/s1600-h/kyle_chamberlain_6.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 278px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/S45wMZtzG4I/AAAAAAAAAN4/N7ZCNVGO8fQ/s400/kyle_chamberlain_6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444412357901228930" border="0" /></a><br />I have a border running cross contour up the hill with my neighbour at a gentle angle. I want to fence it ..... and have been pondering how to effect a living fence but still harvest downhill rain water while accomodating the water pipes along this border that carry our water to the house. (One thing I must add is underground is bedrock at different rising levels so need to get the land flat as it slopes down for the pipes to lie well.)<br /><br />This is what I have come up with:<br /><br />Dig pits along the upward sloping border to trap rain water coming down hill. This is off contour and so I need to dig intermittent pits and not swales.<br /><br />Fill with rocks until flat. This should also hold the water long enough to sink into the earth.<br /><br />Lay house water supply pipework flat on top.<br /><br />Cover with serpentine shaped Talus (pile of rocks sloped as a mound) wall - the wider and higher I can manage the better. This will look like a serpentine wall climbing up the slope at a +/- 30 degree angle. This will collect dew, act as windbreak, protect pipes from extremes of temperature, create microclimates in the curves, and give edge. The one negative I am trying to think through is if a pipe should leak somewhere I need easy access. Might have to buy really long strips of new pipe to lay this way and then where it joins... the point it gives in season changes due to expansion and contraction..... have an easy access point. The hope is that this talus wall covering the pipes will protect from all extremes of temperature anyway - but I would rather prepare in case.<br /><br />I have seen Chinaberry grow through piles of rock and so could probably get them to grow at the top of the talus wall... They are pest resistant and I have tons of seed so an easy choice - thus turning a pest into a blessing. Once they achieve a good thick post height I will pollard them off and rub salt into the cut in hopes of preventing further growth.<br /><br />The plan is then to grow honeysuckle, which grows like a weed here, in between and weave into a living fence on top. The trimmings are good fodder. To get the honeysuckle to grow I might have to offer the rootings a bit of soil base laid over some thick mulch. I don't want to build the living fence inside of this whole talus wall because it will block off the micro-climates created in the curves. On the back side will be well shaded and watered and on the front a warm micro-climate. A lovely thick living wall.... well that is the plan anyway!<br /><br />Until next time,<br />ChelleCYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8780413025989070813.post-83870904948192443202010-02-23T19:46:00.004+02:002010-02-23T20:36:21.448+02:00ORDERLY CHAOS OR CHAOTIC DISORDER?<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CMichelle%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Comic Sans MS"; panose-1:3 15 7 2 3 3 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:script; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} @font-face {font-family:Georgia; panose-1:2 4 5 2 5 4 5 2 3 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Comic Sans MS"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia; mso-font-kerning:14.0pt; mso-ansi-language:EN-ZA; mso-no-proof:yes;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">This topic came up recently in a Permaculture discussion. An interesting conundrum.......</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Previously I quoted something Bill Mollison said in one of his design courses:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">“We should not confuse order and tidiness. Tidiness is something that happens when you have frontal brain damage. You get very tidy. Tidiness is symptomatic of brain damage. Creativity, on the other hand, is symptomatic of a fairly whole brain, and is usually a disordered affair. The tolerance for disorder is one of the very few healthy signs in life. If you can tolerate disorder you are probably healthy. Creativity is seldom tidy.
<br />
<br />Tidiness is like the painting of that straight up and down American with his fork and his straight rows. The British garden is a sign of extraordinary tidiness and functional disorder. You can measure it easily, but it doesn’t yield much. What we want is creative disorder. I repeat, it is not the number of elements in a system that is important, but the degree of functional organization of those elements – beneficial functions.”</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">[Bill Mollison: Transcript for a Permaculture Design Course.]</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">I am very creative and so this really tickled me. I know some people so bound-up in the need for showpiece tidiness that they are only kidding themselves that they are creative. Our modern hyper-tidiness cannot produce creative abundance. Same with natural systems: Functional order in natural systems can look chaotic. But regimental tidyness - regimental visual order - is chaotic functionally. In terms of abundant human creativity it is death.
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Question: Which do you want? Lots of rows of tidy plants gasping out an existence in neatly weeded bare earth? Or a mass of happy low-effort productivity? These two ideas are mutually exclusive.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">When we have a diversity of plantings together they take care of each other. Different root depths ensure minimised competition. Some plants bring up what others need and give it later in leaf fall. Some need shade, some don't. Easy to see where this goes. Synergism with the many integrations producing beyond your wildest dreams.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">I must admit to having had a bit of fun with this quote. I know he sounds a bit rough, but I had some things happen that brought it into clear focus. He is misunderstood as advocating <u>untidiness</u>. That is functionally disorganised too! But this extreme hyper-tidyness - an extreme kind of perfectionism and control - that seems to create a need to regiment everything into straight lines and perfect "order" kills synergy.... and creativity too! :-) And what do you have left? Monoculture rows of plants propped up with chemicals and poisons to produce on a diminishing return. And no special happenings in enthusiastic synergism. A bit nuts in my view.
<br /></span></p><p style="font-family: arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span></p><p style="font-family: arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Until next time,</span></p><p style="font-family: arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Chelle
<br /></span></p>
<br />CYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8780413025989070813.post-26849120131029049222010-01-09T17:03:00.004+02:002010-02-23T18:56:35.724+02:00NOTHING WASTED<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Bless the flowers and the weeds, my birds and bees.<br /></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Anon</span><br /></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family:arial;">I used to hate the way the Chinaberry just popped up everywhere, but now I just think of it as a wonderful source of bio-mass. A year ago I think I would be amazed that I would actually be happy to see a Chinaberry coppicing.<br /><br />I cut it down now and it goes into the beds I am structuring. I layer different sources of bio-mass lasagna-style to build up the bed. I use the Chinberry as part of the greens, and also as mulch on top when needed. Those that have been chopped down seem to coppice so readily that they are an endless supply.<br /><br />I read that Bill Mollison said that in order to completely destroy a tree you are to use road salt... I assume this means coarse salt... at the cut, and then cover with an old carpet to block out the light. I would need a lot of old carpet! But I will have to make a plan like this, in time, as I settle areas down to Food forest. For now they serve a welcome purpose. Everything that grows rampantly in this rainy season is used like this - if not specifically purposed to be there.<br /><br />I have found that the Mulberry tree bouces </span><span style="font-family:arial;">back very readily too; a real blessing. Such a useful tree. And the long leafy stems make wonderful fish food for my Tilapia. I will probably cut back a number of Moringa too to create coppiced limbs and increase forage for the animals when I get them.<br /><br />I found sad littl</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/S0TAr5GQjII/AAAAAAAAAIs/-fWFtQPJVzI/s1600-h/100_2003-2.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; WIDTH: 131px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 177px; CURSOR: pointer" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423671711554899074" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/S0TAr5GQjII/AAAAAAAAAIs/-fWFtQPJVzI/s320/100_2003-2.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">e sticks of Purslane down near the river and brought them into the Food forest too. Now they are the best looking Purslane I have ever seen! Large leafed and a good 40cm high. They have become fora</span><span style="font-family:arial;">ge food to me. I love nibbling on the leaves. It feels so good to reach out and pluck one leaf after another to eat. They are one of nature's richest sources of Omega 3 fatty acids. Perfect to add to salads. I have </span><span style="font-family:arial;">also read that when thrown into a stew-pot they will thicken the sauce. I have not tried this yet... they don't make it past raw in my kitchen.<br /><br />With all the recent rains the weeds are rampant in growth. I will have to pull hard in some places, but they are welcome mulch. Even the Khakibos has become a friend to me; added around young plants the strong scent repels predatory insects. Nothing wasted.<br /><br />Until next time,<br />Chelle<br /><br /></span>CYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8780413025989070813.post-29958428729971144542010-01-06T11:14:00.007+02:002010-01-06T17:32:56.424+02:00WHICH PLANT WHERE......<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">“The yield of the system is limited by our imagination.”<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Bill Mollison, founder of permaculture</span><br /></div><span style="font-family:Arial;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;">I am now looking at the specific plants I want to grow in the food forest. I have already got a number of established Citrus and Mulberry trees in the area I am starting with, and have dotted </span><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;">some Moringa here and there between. The shade of the Moringa is very light and I needed to get them planted out from th</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/S0Sr-B8uczI/AAAAAAAAAIk/6WPG3nBlllA/s1600-h/100_2003-3.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 166px; height: 222px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/S0Sr-B8uczI/AAAAAAAAAIk/6WPG3nBlllA/s320/100_2003-3.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423648933424296754" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;">eir bags before the summer had advanced too much. I have already harvested leaves to eat. They have really taken off. I think it has a lot to do with the lasagna style beds I have laid around them… greens… dry grass… manure… and then sifted topsoil. I have so many rocks in my soil that this was necessa</span><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;">ry to start with, I think. I have read that this is not needed but the difference in the plants grown in these beds in comparison to those grown in a less prepared area is almost incredible. Besides, I have a lot of </span><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;">use for the different rock sizes with all the pathways and building I am doing out of rock. It also allows me to assess depths for planting because</span><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;"> some rocks are so enormous that it is best not to plant a tree over; and some rocks I like to leave uncovered to be able to access within the beds without walking over the soil.<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div><div> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;">So far in the Food forest I have Citrus, Moringa, Mulberry, Banana, Litchi, </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/S0SrCLSUm3I/AAAAAAAAAIc/RjD-bzgj99k/s1600-h/100_1995.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 194px; height: 146px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/S0SrCLSUm3I/AAAAAAAAAIc/RjD-bzgj99k/s320/100_1995.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423647905138645874" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;">Apricot, Nectarine, Peach, Mango, Papaya, Pine</span><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;">apple, Almond, Raspberry, </span><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;">S</span><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;">pearmint, Sweet potato, Peanuts, Purslane, Strawberries,</span><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;"> and Pumpkin. The Pumpkin was from seeds of a rotten Crown Prince Pumpkin that I threw out. They have taken off at a gallop. Any surplus growth will be cut back as mulch if they get too rampant; but in the meantime the half meter height under the umbrella ef</span><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;">fect of the leaves is serving a wonderful purpose for Papaya grown from seed and transplanted there - as well as off-cut from a b</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/S0SpnP4NviI/AAAAAAAAAIU/HzB-EubwDyc/s1600-h/100_1999.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 199px; height: 151px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/S0SpnP4NviI/AAAAAAAAAIU/HzB-EubwDyc/s320/100_1999.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423646343003225634" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;">ox of Pineapples we have enjoyed; they fit so snugly under the l</span><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;">eaves as though in a mini-greenhouse.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Until next time,</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Chelle</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></p> </div>CYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8780413025989070813.post-64170059525430157312009-11-19T15:37:00.004+02:002009-11-19T16:38:11.929+02:00WHAT IS A FOOD FOREST?<div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >John Muir</span><br /></div><br /></div>I have been reading and watching anything I can lay my hands on that would help me design my first food forest. Geoff Lawton’s film “Establishing a Food Forest (the Permaculture Way series) was the most helpful.<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/SwVW_tcsd-I/AAAAAAAAAHQ/O1adFiawPAU/s1600/Establishing+a+food+forest+dvd+cover.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 167px; height: 246px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/SwVW_tcsd-I/AAAAAAAAAHQ/O1adFiawPAU/s320/Establishing+a+food+forest+dvd+cover.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405822580259846114" border="0" /></a></div><br />He explained that we are to learn from nature and think of establishing a forest in terms of time, and a series of plantings that come and go until the final forest bio-system matures.<br /><br />Leave land alone long enough and in many areas it will revert to forest. Damaged land will always start with pioneer plants that will start repairing the land; often these will fix nitrogen. Annual and perenial weeds would cover the earth. Within the protection of these weeds small plants would start to grow: small bushes and shrubs would begin to cover parts of the land and dominate. Finally pioneer trees such as the Acacia (nitrogen-fixing) would start taking hold. Leaf drop and attraction to foraging wildlife would enrich the soil. And so the beginnings of a forest would be born. This succession can take decades but will eventually result in a mature forest.<br /><br />A forest is self-sustaining; the perennials and annuals are self-seeding and self-sowing. Forest litter deepens over the years to form a wonderful mulch filled with all the micro and macro-organisms needed to bring about sustainability. The soil is undisturbed and life in the soil increases fertility. The bio-diversity of nitrogen-fixing plants, plants that give mulch, plants that attract wildlife and beneficial insects with food, and plants that create habitats, all help develop the forest into a highly beneficial eco-system that in its complex integration is more than the sum of its parts.<br /><br />We can mimic what we learn in nature and even speed up the process to some degree with more deliberate guidance than nature gives. Digging a swale on contour, to catch rainfall, and then planting it up on the swale mound with nitrogen-fixing plants is a great beginning to our forest. These are relatively short-lived but help condition the soil for those trees and plants we wish to see established. Interspersing these quick-grow plants with valuable and desired young trees to get started will speed up the forest succession process.<br /><br />He also described how forests are a series of layers. These multiple layers of vegetation maximise health, sustainability and productivity in a forest. Seven distinct layers have been identified. This diagram by Graham Burnett best explains this:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/SwVKqf8SBHI/AAAAAAAAAHI/2h2rrQmHeVY/s1600/Diagram+by+Graham+Burnett.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 201px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/SwVKqf8SBHI/AAAAAAAAAHI/2h2rrQmHeVY/s320/Diagram+by+Graham+Burnett.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405809021717447794" border="0" /></a><br />It is also important to understand the structural functioning of a forest. Patterning of plants is not in a neat orchard style but more a clumping together of plants with each part a little different than the next. This has been found to attract more bird-life and greater levels of predatory insect-life than a regulated mono-patterned orchard that has these same seven levels integrated. With a more natural planting there are many more micro-climates created and bio-diversity is in increased. Different plants will be able to take better care of themselves when grown in the little niches created by this mimicry of nature’s forest systems.<br /><br />Increasingly we are starting to understand more of the soil dynamics that go into increased fertility of the land. Not only above ground, but also below ground, multiple layers of root depths and soil utilization can effect a happy crowding of plants that benefit each other, instead of competeing by contending for the same soil nutrients and requirements. Combining plants in terms of root patterns that are beneficial creates more intensive use of the soil without bringing harm to the plants. A monoculture needs plant spacing for a plant to survive but this is not natural or optimal in terms of plant health and productivity, and all the benefit of land cover, shading, increased moisture, pest protection, and complex soil chemistry is lost.<br /><br />I have to quote Bill Mollison here; not only because it tickled me to read it, but because his point of view in terms of productivity is accurate:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >“We should not confuse order and tidiness. Tidiness is something that happens when you have frontal brain damage. You get very tidy. Tidiness is symptomatic of brain damage. Creativity, on the other hand, is symptomatic of a fairly whole brain, and is usually a disordered affair. The tolerance for disorder is one of the very few healthy signs in life. If you can tolerate disorder you are probably healthy. Creativity is seldom tidy.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Tidiness is like the painting of that straight up and down American with his fork and his straight rows. The British garden is a sign of extraordinary tidiness and functional disorder. You can measure it easily, but it doesn’t yield much. What we want is creative disorder. I repeat, it is not the number of elements in a system that is important, but the degree of functional organization of those elements – beneficial functions.”</span><br /><br />A food forest cannot be some regimented plan that totally disregards the value of all nature has to offer in terms of bio-diversity and multiple integrations in complex and varied structures.<br /><br />I am not aiming to plant a lot of trees and call it a forest, but multiple sets of random ecologies that integrate into a self-sustaining corporate biosystem; a tumbling cascade of colour, texture, highs and lows, with precious “weeds” and other productive plants between, until every part is bursting with life and productivity.<br /></div><br />Until next time,<br />Chelle<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Sources:<br />Geoff Lawton’s film “Establishing a Food Forest (the Permaculture Way series)<br />Bill Mollison: Transcript for a Permaculture Design Course.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_gardening</span><br /></span>CYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8780413025989070813.post-3091751942546566642009-11-01T18:27:00.016+02:002009-11-01T22:01:32.083+02:00FIRST THOUGHTS ON BUILDING A FOOD FOREST<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CMichelle%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} span.fullpost {mso-style-name:fullpost;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"><i style="">“When we design for permanence, we go generally toward forests, <o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"><i style="">permanent pastures, lakes and ponds, and non-tillage agriculture.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"><i style="">Bill Mollison</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center">
<br /><i style=""><span style="font-size:8;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-size:8;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">I have been givin</span><span style="font-size:100%;">g m</span><span style="font-size:100%;">uch thought about how to begin establishing a food forest. I have come to the conclusion that bef</span><span style="font-size:100%;">o</span><span style="font-size:100%;">re</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> I c</span><span style="font-size:100%;">an</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> plant a forest I have to consider how I would provide enough moisture to sustain tha</span><span style="font-size:100%;">t forest. Here is where design comes in. Ditches along co</span><span style="font-size:100%;">ntour curves [swale</span><span style="font-size:100%;">s] are the first pre-requisite, b</span><span style="font-size:100%;">ut water storag</span><span style="font-size:100%;">e points, even off contour, are valuable too.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><a style="" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/Su3hd9VwoUI/AAAAAAAAAFE/wwZnzZah1nI/s1600-h/SUDS_Swales.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 201px; height: 84px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/Su3hd9VwoUI/AAAAAAAAAFE/wwZnzZah1nI/s320/SUDS_Swales.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399219433085378882" border="0" /></a></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">We need to store water where it is most useful. To store it at the bottom of a hill where it needs to be pumped up is least useful. However with a water source like a river or dam at the lowest point there are some interesting options availabl</span><span style="font-size:100%;">e that are very sus</span><span style="font-size:100%;">tainable. A spiral pump that turns with the flow of the river and lifts water to a top tank in order to create a head to get a ram pump st</span><span style="font-size:100%;">arted is something I am looking</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> into. I do not like the water waste of a ram pump, but if this were to be fed into irrigation ditc</span><span style="font-size:100%;">hes at the riverfront there would be no waste. I would need to g</span><span style="font-size:100%;">et as much head as possible out of the spiral pump to have the ram deliver further uphill to where I need it.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span></p><div> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">The spiral pump is a simple but fascinating technology. As can be seen by the historic Wirtz pumps in these 1842 drawings, it i</span><span style="font-size:100%;">s a simple design. It is the only easy way</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> I have discovered so far to lift water from my river using the power of the river. A waterwheel would be quite beau</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/Su3jbwdQzMI/AAAAAAAAAFc/GSQOnbtu1Is/s1600-h/Historic+Wirtz+Pump+1842+drawing+2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 110px; height: 127px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/Su3jbwdQzMI/AAAAAAAAAFc/GSQOnbtu1Is/s320/Historic+Wirtz+Pump+1842+drawing+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399221594290703554" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;">tiful, but sudden flooding of the river would probably carry it away and something like that would </span><span style="font-size:100%;">be expensive to keep replacing. If it could</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> be </span><span style="font-size:100%;">lifted from the water during the rainy se</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/Su3jGcbJJhI/AAAAAAAAAFU/Q4ekMuMaG2o/s1600-h/Historic+Wirtz+Pump+1842+drawing.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 140px; height: 175px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/Su3jGcbJJhI/AAAAAAAAAFU/Q4ekMuMaG2o/s320/Historic+Wirtz+Pump+1842+drawing.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399221228135851538" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;">as</span><span style="font-size:100%;">on that </span><span style="font-size:100%;">would be good; but the project becomes even more difficult with this criterion. A spiral wheel can be made quite simply by coiling water-piping into a wheel sha</span><span style="font-size:100%;">pe with the centre</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> fitted to a special joint to join with the ou</span><span style="font-size:100%;">tlet pipe; a joint that can allow the wheel to turn whil</span><span style="font-size:100%;">e the outlet pipe does not. Paddles on the side of th</span><span style="font-size:100%;">e wheel use th</span><span style="font-size:100%;">e rive</span><span style="font-size:100%;">r flow to turn the wheel. As it turns the mouth of the wheel scoops up water and then air, water and then air, round and around as it goe</span><span style="font-size:100%;">s. The air is compressed inside the wheel the nearer it gets to the center and then shoots out of the exit pipe up the hill. Pretty neat. If I can get some bam</span><span style="font-size:100%;">boo I could even make the wheel structure with it and bring costs right down should it need replacing if carried off by flooded river banks; </span><span style="font-size:100%;">much lighter to lift the wheel out to prevent this too.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Rain is also a very valuable resource. We need to capture it before it runs to the lowest point, and then filter it through a bio-system in as many useful ways as possible, before it runs off and is lost. We need to get close to the source and re-direct the flow. How much rainfall there is, is not as important and how much we put the water to use when it does fall.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">We need biological as well as mechanical storages. With rain water we can store it or let it leave. When it leaves and goes to the rivers it is lost to the sea. Fresh water is a valuable resource; it takes precipitation to get it to us. Many other water sources are contaminated to some degree or other.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span></p> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">I have had the idea of digging beneath my planned pathways in order to pack rocks with spaces for water storage. I need the rocks underneath to brace the path without getting into expensive construction techniques. With these stable rock beds under the main pathways I could just put the hose-pipe into a down-pipe, fill it up and move to the next storage point under pathway. This would ensure direct seepage downhill into the soil,</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/Su3cMhju5wI/AAAAAAAAAEs/-e1Av6MsHHQ/s1600-h/100_1995-2+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/Su3cMhju5wI/AAAAAAAAAEs/-e1Av6MsHHQ/s200/100_1995-2+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399213636011878146" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"> exactly where I need the water – at the roots. Plenty of mulch on top could be wetted down to keep the roots of shallow plantings happy and cool too, but the extensive irrigation often needed to establish fruit trees would be avoided. Rainfall catchment into these underground reservoirs could be directed from up hill too, with some sort of stone and pebble filtration at the entrance to prevent soil and debris accumulation Piping laid from a fish dam at a higher level (already in place) to the entry points of these stone reservoirs, could also be engineered to increase water and nutrient filtration down into the precious soil of the food forest. This whole idea was all largely inspired by an article written by Mr Brad Lancaster when he interviewed a simple man in southern <st1:place st="on">Africa</st1:place> with a powerful story.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr Zephania Phiri Maseko of the former <st1:country-region st="on">Rhodesia</st1:country-region>, now <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Zimbabwe</st1:country-region></st1:place>, is known as the man who farms water. We learn from this very enterprising man that it is not so much the amount of rainfall that matters, but the way it is directed from the source to fulfill as much usefulness as possible, before it runs downhill to the valley. He learned to harvest the rain so effectively that he created a food garden on dry-lands. He wanted to create a Garden of Eden, and he definitely achieved just this.
<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr. Phiri found himself without a job and 2 wives and children to support. He told his story to Brad Lancaster, who traveled a very long way to hear it. Mr Lancaster found Mr Phiri sitting on the porch reading his Bible, and there began a most interesting interview. He took Brad Lancaster to his three hectare family landholding and explained that after he lost his job this was all he had along with his Bible. The year was 1964. He turned to his Bible for direction on what to do with this very dry piece of land. He read in Genesis how Adam and Eve had everything they needed in the Garden of Eden. This Garden lay between two rivers; the Tigris and the <st1:place st="on">Euphrates</st1:place>. He did not have this benefit but decided that he needed to create his own rivers. His land faced north-northeast which is an advantage in the southern hemisphere. Frequent droughts and a lack of equipment and capital made his dream of a Garden of Eden in his own backyard seem nigh impossible. He faced an enormous challenge. But without the promise of any work on the horizon it was this, or starvation for him and his family. So when it did rain he spent time observing what happened to the water; and thus began educating himself in rain-harvesting. He became so successful that he now supplies all his water needs with rainfall alone. It took 30 years but he now has his Garden of Eden and is teaching his neighbours, and many visitors from all around the globe, his methods.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/Su3WaiHDb3I/AAAAAAAAAEc/MKHBPvRXDmo/s1600-h/Low+unmortared+stone+walls+to+slow+rain+runoff.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/Su3WaiHDb3I/AAAAAAAAAEc/MKHBPvRXDmo/s200/Low+unmortared+stone+walls+to+slow+rain+runoff.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399207279608426354" border="0" /></a></span></p><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CMichelle%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="">From the top he used rocks to loosely build low walls along contours to interrupt the rapid down flow of the rainfall. From this he directed the water to unlined reservoirs built with hand tools and hard work. Both he and his 2 wives worked at this. The top reservoir he calls his “immigration centre” for this is where the water is welcomed onto his farm and directed to where it will live in his soil. Over time he discovered that if this first reservoir filled three times in a season then enough rain would have been directed into the soil for storage to last him two years. He explains that the soil is like a tin and should hold all water, but where erosion has formed into gullies the soil leaks the water. He proceeded to plug these leaks.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;"></span><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span> <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]--></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">His second reservoir is used to direct water to a ferro-cement tank for household use; and all outgoing greywater is drained to an underground cistern to feed the water into the soil.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">He discovered that the government had put huge swales above his property to prevent soil erosion. These swales were placed slightly off contour to direct the rushing water away from the land to a central drainage; however it robbed his land of much needed moisture, thus making it unproductive. Mr Phiri dug large “fruition pits” at intervals down the contour until the contour came to his property line. These would fill with water one after another and slowly filter into the landscape long after the rainstorm. He grew thatch grasses around these pits to prevent them collapsing by erosion. The thatch he used for building and to generate some extra income.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br />He has many thriving fruit trees growing along swales to provide fruit, windbreaks and shade. They have no special attention beyond the rain and the water that Mr Phiri “plants” in his soil.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">The rising ground water held in storage brings this abundance. He said to Brad Lancaster: </span><span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;">"I am digging fruition pits and swales to plant the water so that it can germinate elsewhere. I have then taught the trees my system. They understand it and my language. I put them here and tell them, 'Look the water is there - go and get it'''. He uses no ridging or basins around the tree but expects them to reach out and find the water.
<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span><span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;">He also grows a wide diversity of edible crops to give him food security; if some crops do not provide his needs, others will. Only open-pollinated seed is used and this is collected to be sown the next year. He uses nitrogen fixing plants abundantly. One plant that he favours is the pigeon pea which he uses for fodder and mulch. He said he discovered that fertilized soils do not hold water well to the detriment of the plants, but when manure and nitrogen-fixing plants are used the plants thrive year after year. “Fertilised soil is bitter".</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span> <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]--></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">I love how he describes water: </span><span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;">"Water is like blood - it is always attracted to the wound. Gullies are wounds. Blood goes to the wound to coagulate and heal it. It does this with gabions and swales where the gully is filled with fertile soil". For this reason he dug his three wells at the bo</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/Su3YXImmrMI/AAAAAAAAAEk/PRq8_A2kEPo/s1600-h/Mr+Phiris+banana+grove.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 215px; height: 140px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/Su3YXImmrMI/AAAAAAAAAEk/PRq8_A2kEPo/s200/Mr+Phiris+banana+grove.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399209420245085378" border="0" /></a><span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;">ttom of his land so that all water harvested and percolated into the soil would find its way eventually</span><span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;"> to these “wounds” he has created and fill them. Even when his neighbours wells dry up,</span><span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;"> his don’t; including wells dug deeper than his. Only one of his wells is lined and equipped with </span><span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;">a hand pu</span><span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;">mp to provide water to the house. The other two are open and lined with rocks – no mortar –to allow the water to go where it will. Only in times of extreme drought will he draw from these wells to water annuals in a nearby field. Below these wells a wetland has developed and</span><span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;"> has mad</span><span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;">e the lush growth of a banana forest possible. He also has three reservoirs here to farm</span><span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;"> fish. He grows reeds, sugarcane and preferred grasses on and up to the banks ofthese reservoirs; a wonderful resource in terms of fodder for his livestock and als</span><span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;">o superb filtration of the seeping water, that fills the dams, for the fish.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span><span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr Phiri believes he has created his own Tigris and <st1:place st="on">Euphrates</st1:place> rivers underground and they surface in his reservoirs. In his own words he describes the last thirty years: </span><span class="fullpost" style="font-size:100%;">"Sure, it's a slow process, but that's LIFE. Slowly, you implement these projects and as you begin to rhyme with nature soon other lives will start to rhyme with yours".</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CMichelle%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} span.fullpost {mso-style-name:fullpost;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="fullpost">Mr Phiri has created the Zvishavane Water Resources Project to teach his techniques. He has impacted so many that even CARE International in his region use funds to implement his methods to teach how to grow food rather than give away food. At schools he has changed dry dusty water deficient landscapes into lush gardens where he has taught teachers and students to implement his methods. The Zvishavane Water Resources Project is always in need of funds. If you'd like to help write to Mr Zephania Phiri Maseko, ZWRP, PO Box 118, Zvishavane, Zimbabwe.</span>
<br /><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->
<br /><!--[endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Until next time,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Chelle<span style=";font-family:&quot;;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CMichelle%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} span.fullpost {mso-style-name:fullpost;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CMichelle%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} span.fullpost {mso-style-name:fullpost;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]-->
<br /><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:12;" ><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br />Sources:
<br /></span></span></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:12;" ><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:85%;">http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/netregs/102136.aspx
<br /></span></span></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:12;" ><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:85%;">http://lurkertech.com/water/pump/tailer/
<br />http://ag.arizona.edu/oals/ALN/aln46/lancaster.html
<br />
<br /></span></span> <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]--></span>CYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8780413025989070813.post-71801061232168463142009-10-05T16:05:00.013+02:002009-10-05T20:02:51.205+02:00TREES TO FORESTS<div style="text-align: justify;"><a style="" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/Ssn9a6TGyRI/AAAAAAAAADs/QToBaFyJjoQ/s1600-h/100_1716-1+%28Small%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 146px; height: 146px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/Ssn9a6TGyRI/AAAAAAAAADs/QToBaFyJjoQ/s320/100_1716-1+%28Small%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389117067893328146" border="0" /></a> We need our forests. It was only recently that I learned how much we need them.
<br />
<br />Forests are essential to a stable oxygen cycle; far more than previously realized. They outstrip the oceans in this function. In fact, our oceans are fast becoming oxygen consumers with all the mercury being dumped into them. Forest waste also dumped into the sea is creating huge amounts of oxygen consumption in decomposition. Forests lock up carbon dioxide. Decomposing forests release carbon dioxide. The rate at which primeval forests are being destroyed is indicative of how little the value of such an integrated bio-mass is understood.
<br /></div>
<br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Forests provide a large amount of our precipitation [The falling to earth of any form of water (rain or snow or hail or sleet or mist)]. Cut away forests from ridges and you can reduce rainfall in the area as much as 30%. But rainfall is not the whole picture; full precipitation losses can be as high as 86%. Thus, semi-desert conditions can very rapidly be produced. Biomass [The total mass of living matter in a given unit area] will rapidly diminish without this life-giving essential moisture.
<br /></div>
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/SsoySXL4c1I/AAAAAAAAAEM/FBuBpysl87c/s1600-h/CIMG7914_denoised-1+%28Small%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/SsoySXL4c1I/AAAAAAAAAEM/FBuBpysl87c/s200/CIMG7914_denoised-1+%28Small%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389175195145106258" border="0" /></a>Forests buffer an environment against extremes. They temper cold and heat, wet and dry, and moderate pollution. They are also a major soil factory of the world. Add to this that if we cut away our trees we lose the soil already made, even as far away as 1000 miles from the destroyed watershed. [A ridge of land that separates two adjacent river systems.] Climate change is occurring – not in that we are gravitating towards a greenhouse effect, or, as was scientifically projected back in the 70’s, toward an ice age – but in that an unpredictable pattern is forming that swings erratically between. The destruction of our forests has a part to play in this. [see http://denisdutton.com/newsweek_coolingworld.pdf ]
<br />
<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/SsoC7NWYb1I/AAAAAAAAAD8/wq3CZZaiT1k/s1600-h/Conesville_Power_Plant_041+click+%28Small%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 115px; height: 163px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/SsoC7NWYb1I/AAAAAAAAAD8/wq3CZZaiT1k/s200/Conesville_Power_Plant_041+click+%28Small%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389123120321294162" border="0" /></a>The loss of forest species from pathogens and pests has started occurring with alarming frequency. First the Chestnut was hit with blight. Then the elms, and now beeches, eucalypts and oaks. There is great consternation over the insects that are preying on these trees, but Bill Mollison puts forward that these insects are merely feasting on a dying forest system. These predatory insects smell the death and come for their food. This is much in line with the Trophobiosis Theory of the French botanist Francis Chaboussou.
<br /></div>
<br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Trophobiosis is based on the premise that pests shun healthy plants. Weakened plants open the door to pests and disease. Francis Chaboussou (1908-1985) was an agronomist for France’s National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA). His thesis “Healthy Crops: An New Agricultural Revolution” was finally made available in English. He speaks against the use of pesticides. They weaken plants, and weakened plants open the door to pest and disease. To use further pesticides to control these pests is to further weaken the plants and aid in their demise. Traditional thinking is that pests develop a resistance to a particular poison and so the onslaught against the pest is increased. Chaboussou declares that the plant is further debilitated and so attracts even more disease and pests. A healthy plant shuns pests. An unhealthy plant sends out signals that attract pests and pathogens.
<br /></div>
<br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Trophobiosis is derived from two Greek roots: trophikos (nourishment) and biosis (life). Chaboussou says “the relationships between plant and parasite are primarily nutritional”. This should not be too surprising. Humanly speaking, the difference between health and disease in man is primarily nutritional.
<br /></div>
<br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Returning again to Bill Mollison and what he has to say about the death of so many major tree species, we see him confirming what Mr Chaboussou had found to be true. He blames humans and not bugs for the demise of these trees. When speaking of the bugs he says, “What attracts them is the smell from the dying tree. We have noticed that in Australia. Just injure trees to see what happens. The phasmids [Large cylindrical or flattened mostly tropical insects with long strong legs that feed on plants; walking sticks and leaf insects] come. The phasmid detects the smell of this. The tree has become its food tree, and it comes to feed.”
<br />
<br />Let’s talk about rising salts in the demise of forest species: When rain falls on forests we have water storage. When forests are removed we have evaporation. When forests absorb this rain it travels downwards and takes with it salts produced from the breakdown of rocks. The trees act as biological pumps that keep these salts at deep levels. Any evaporation from the leaves of the tree is pure water. This is all good for the atmosphere and the soil. When the forests are removed and the salt levels rise to three feet below the surface then trees are suddenly and mysteriously affected by bugs and pathogens. The real cause is the imbalance in the soil caused by rising salts. The onslaught on the tree makes it susceptible to pests and disease. When these trees die and salt levels rise higher, then crops are affected too and become weakened. When salt levels rise to the surface then we have created an inhospitable soil environment that is easily seen.
<br />
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/SsoMUx4t7gI/AAAAAAAAAEE/VtvKZli6Wzs/s1600-h/photo_1921_20060905Chance+Agrella+%28Small%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 164px; height: 247px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/SsoMUx4t7gI/AAAAAAAAAEE/VtvKZli6Wzs/s320/photo_1921_20060905Chance+Agrella+%28Small%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389133455230365186" border="0" /></a>Forests recycle water. It is vital that this water is recycled into the atmosphere in order to have the necessary precipitation upon the earth. Contamination of existing water supplies is at an all time high. Should we diminish this recycled water still further we could be in very serious trouble.
<br /></div>
<br />We need our forests.
<br />
<br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Plant a tree; and if you can, plant a forest.
<br /></div>
<br /><div style="text-align: left;">I want to plant a food forest. Join me. I have lots to learn but will share as I do. I would love to hear from others too. Let us leave a heritage that is sustainable and worth giving to our children.
<br /></div>
<br />Until next time,
<br />Chelle
<br />
<br /><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CMichelle%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i style="">Sources: <a href="http://orgprints.org/12894/1/12894.pdf">http://orgprints.org/12894/1/12894.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i style=""><span style=""> </span><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/5030/bill-mollison-permaculture-design-course">http://www.scribd.com/doc/5030/bill-mollison-permaculture-design-course</a><o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Photos courtesy of me, morguefile, morguefile, and freerangestock (in that order)</span><span style="font-style: italic;">. Thank you.</span></span>
<br />CYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8780413025989070813.post-2113333589253749252009-09-13T18:41:00.003+02:002009-10-05T17:29:18.680+02:00MULBERRIES, MULBERRIES EVERYWHERE!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/Sq0hI5Ec2lI/AAAAAAAAADk/0zoxtri3odE/s1600-h/mulberry-tree.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 255px; height: 191px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/Sq0hI5Ec2lI/AAAAAAAAADk/0zoxtri3odE/s320/mulberry-tree.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5380993566419769938" border="0" /></a><br />I do have these trees everywhere. They grow as weeds on my farm. I have a deep respect for many weeds as forage foods and so do not consider it derogatory to name this wonderful tree a weed. Berry time is a time of feasting; usually September/October; coming up very soon. There is such an abundance of fruit that it is the one harvest I am not competing with the monkeys for.<br /><br />Something super about the mulberry is that the fruit ripens over an extended period of time and not all at once, thus affording a longer harvest season. I have also noticed that some trees will come into bearing even a month after others. This does not seem to be the difference between the Black and the White, but the difference between one tree and another. Perhaps location has something to do with this. I have started watching for this. One year a tree up higher on the mountain came into bearing a good 3 months after the others had all finished.<br /><br />Another good quality about this tree is that it will bear fruit from quite young and small. The fruit are smaller than a more mature tree but are still available to eat. I have a favourite Black Mulberry that must be well over 15 years now and produces lovely big black fruit every year. That is one tree I want to get to before the monkeys do.<br /><br />I know of three common types of mulberry: The Black (Morus nigra), the Red (Morus rubra), and the White (Morus alba). I have the Black and the White growing naturally on my farm. The Black are by far the best tasting mulberry. The white can be very sweet if you wait long enough for them to turn a lilac colour. The Chinese use the White Mulberry. I have read that the Black mulberry is the least cold tolerant of the three and the White the most tolerant. It has been said the Red mulberries seldom live longer than 75 years but that Black Mulberries have been known to bear fruit for hundreds of years.<br /><br />The mulberry is worth considering for any farm or food forest. The fruit is not available in the stores because the shelf-life is too short. They are easy to cultivate. The mulberries can be eaten, cooked, dried and frozen. To cook them just let them gently simmer in their own juice until the mixture becomes a liquid sauce. If you wish to offset the sweetness you can add a little lemon or lime juice, and some lemon or even orange rind. Thicken for a pudding or save to pour over ice-cream or whatever takes your fancy. If the berries are dried in a dehydrator they store well and can be a delicious snack, especially the Black mulberry. I want to experiment this season. The young unopened leaves can be boiled as a tender vegetable. I have read that the mature leaves are toxic and even mildly hallucinogenic. I have not found them so. But take care. I have eaten many mature leaves and have come to no harm, but would advise caution. Use wise foraging principles and you should be safe; just a nibble first. For recipes, pears and apples blend well with mulberries. I bet these together could be delicious as a frozen ice.<br /><br />They can also be made into wine and liqueur. Just google “Homemade mulberry wine” and you will come up with tons of recipes for wines; but one that really caught my attention for its simplicity and unusual ingredients I found here at foodreference.com : http://www.foodreference.com/html/wine-mulberry-wine-recipe.html<br /><br />There are many more uses for the mulberry tree. Not only is the fruit delicious, but the leaves are edible too; in fact a desirable food, not only to the silkworm. Horses, goats, sheep, rabbits and fish will forage on these leaves. And I do too. Yes. As with the Moringa I dry these leaves for winter to use in smoothies. They have excellent health benefits. The leaves are reputed to have high mineral content. I have read of the leaves being juiced. Sifting is required because there is a large amount of fibre which can get stuck in your teeth. It is said to taste like wheatgrass. Never tasted wheat grass so I don’t know. I have only added fresh leaves to an apple fruit porridge I make and so can verify the high fibre content of the leaves. More commonly the leaves are dried and drunk as a tea. Infusion of the leaves of the white mulberry as a tea is said to give many health benefits; mostly in the fight against diabetes and as a source of anti-oxidants. It is said that certain glucose blocking factors prevent the body from absorbing certain sugars when drinking mulberry tea. Some even boast it aids in weight loss because of this. Perhaps there really are some benefits in weight loss, but I think eating less while maximising nutrition is the best way to do this. As an aside I have found Intermittent Fasting is a superb eating life-style, both for weight-loss and health. Anyone interested in this subject should download a free e-book I read by Dr Bert Herring on the subject. It really helped me. It can be found here: http://www.fast-5.com/Fast-5-ebook100.pdf . A marvellous health tool.<br /><br />Back to Mulberry tea. This is a waxy leaf and so a longer brewing time is needed than for the average green tea. Eight minutes with water that is just beginning to boil makes an excellent health drink.<br /><br />Even the root bark is used medicinally. It is supposed to act as a diuretic and help with coughs and asthma. This is new to me so not much else to say. Some things I just mention to remind me to experiment one day.<br /><br />The mulberry is best known as feed for the silkworm (Bombyx Mori) It is best to get the white Chinese silkworm if you want to use the silk. The cocoon is white. The zebra silkworm has a yellow cocoon. It took me some time to discover how the thread is wound off the cocoon. Working with fibres fascinates me and I would like to one day add this to the Angora, Mohair, and Cashmere fibres I plan to use. Whole cocoons are placed in boiling water and gently stirred to separate the twisted threads from each other. You can put them in an oven first to kill of the worm quickly. I am not sure of the temperature but it needs to be hot enough to quickly kill without harming the silk. Experiment. Then into the hot water. This is how the end of a single long thread of about 3600 feet is located. Commercially 8 cocoons are unravelled together and spun into a yarn on a spinning machine. You can do it quite simply at home with hot water, a toothpick to find the end of the thread, and a pencil to wind it on. You can take 3 or 4 threads and twist together to make silk thread. I would love to hear from anyone who has successfully tried this.<br /><br />We can look to the Chinese for other uses for the Mulberry too. Integration of silkworms and mulberries with fish farming is a natural progression. The silkworm faeces and pupae can be fed to the fish and thereby add an excellent protein into this bio-system. Just throw the silkworm residue into the pond. The pond silt makes an excellent fertilizer for the mulberry and other forage crops. These forage crops can bring an increase in livestock that can be added. If this is all done within natural parameters no outside inputs should be needed. It was done before agri-business had us convinced we needed them. It can be done again. Mulberry leaves can be harvested every 90 days. Drying seems to be the best way to conserve the protein content of the leaf. I have done this. It merely requires air-drying in a dust-free environment.<br /><br />The Mulberry is considered by some as exceptional forage. I know that my tilapia fish will polish off every leaf of a lopped-off branch that I have thrown into the pond. They even eat the bark. This is great; like throwing in a living larder. And I do mean living. The branches sometimes even grow back leaves after being stripped. The pond water is obviously so rich in nitrates that they manage this without roots. I have even seen berries develop on a couple of branches long after I have thrown the lopped branch into the pond!<br /><br />Protein content of the leaves is said to be between 15 and 28%. It is a highly productive perennial forage. The leaves can be used as supplements replacing concentrates for dairy cattle. I have read that to offer it to cattle it is best offered finely chopped. I plan to try this out with 2 Jersey cows one day. At the moment I am establishing forage for the livestock I will one day acquire. The Mulberry leaves can also be used as the main feed for goats, sheep and rabbits. The mulberry leaves are so palatable that small ruminants will avidly consume fresh leaves and young stems when offered to them even if they have never tasted them before. It does seem to be a preferred forage. Mix it with a selection and the mulberry will be searched out. A note of caution: Be careful with rabbits. They do not have digestive juices as we do, but digest their food by way of bacteria in their gut – so any new foods need be added in very small quantities at first, to build up the necessary bacteria. Should this care not be taken, the rabbit will fill up on the new food and the food will sit in the gut until it ferments and the creature could die of bloat. No bacteria, no digestion. To give it to chickens it is shade dried and given in the mash of laying hens. I have read that this gives better yolk colour and increased egg size. Time will tell. I will write more as I experiment.<br /><br />Something a little more unusual is raising snails on mulberry leaves. I mention this because I might one day try this. Escargot are highly prized by some. Not me. But some. : )<br /><br />Guinea pigs and iguanas have also been fed mulberry leaves.<br /><br />Mulberry wood has many uses to. It is highly water resistant and very good for building ships. Because it grows faster than other woody plants it is very good for biomass production as a raw material for paper production. The mulberry wood has also been found to be a good source of media for mushroom production.<br /><br />I think I have us convinced that the mulberry is a wonderful addition to any food forest or garden!<br /><br />Until next time,<br />Chelle.CYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8780413025989070813.post-55235876470080249402009-08-15T23:10:00.002+02:002009-08-15T23:12:42.045+02:00SMALL BEGINNINGS WITH MORINGA<a style="" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/SmsAsCHGPPI/AAAAAAAAADI/yUvJXzBksxQ/s1600-h/moringa+leaf.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 211px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jrFsreNTYAA/SmsAsCHGPPI/AAAAAAAAADI/yUvJXzBksxQ/s320/moringa+leaf.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362380537795591410" border="0" /></a>Starting small. The best place to start.<br /><br />Give me a piece of land, a wide blue sky and the sun on my back. Add the birds, some trees and plants and I am smiling. God is smiling too.<br /><br />I have a piece of land to work, and nurture a dream of true sustainability. My beginnings are small but I do not despise that day of small beginnings. It comes with hard work, sore muscles and many learning curves. I thought I would journal my path in hopes of meeting those of like mind who want to find solutions to price hikes, poor nutrition and the sophisticated stress levels of our modern world; together tell a simple tale of finding a better way.<br /><br />My current enthusiam is the Moringa tree. I finally managed to track some seeds on the internet and they arrived in the post. Ten precious seeds. Six of them germinated. And of those six only two survived. One went to a neighbour, who is as enthusiastic as I, and the other has been planted out.<br /><br />One was not enough and so I bought more seeds and have now planted out about 30 trees. They are a joy. I expect them to feed my family, myself and my livestock one day. With the coming spring I will enlarge the beginnings of my food forest with more trees.<br /><br />Why Moringa?<br /><br />It is a nutritional miracle and has been used in places to reverse malnutrition in children. It has been discovered that those taking Moringa show improvement within a few days rather than the usual few months when on conventional treatment. Frank Martin in "Survival and Subsistence in the Tropics" states that "among the leafy vegetables, one stands out as particularly good, the horseradish tree. The leaves are outstanding as a source of vitamin A and, when raw, vitamin C. They are a good source of B vitamins and among the best plant sources of minerals. The calcium content is very high for a plant. Phosphorous is low, as it should be. The content of iron is very good (it is reportedly prescribed for anemia in the Philippines). They are an excellent source of protein and a very low source of fat and carbohydrates. Thus the leaves are one of the best plant foods that can be found."<br /><br />Moringa is also known as the Horseradish tree because of the sauce that can be made from the roots. This is done when the seedlings are about 60cm tall. The bark is completely removed as it contains harmful substances. This done, the root is ground and mixed with salt and vinegar and stored in the refrigerator. It is not advised that it be eaten in excess.<br /><br />Not only the roots but the leaves, flowers, bark, gum and wood are all useful.<br /><br />Both fresh and dried leaves are used. I have dried the leaves for winter to add to smoothies. They can also be ground to powder and added to different dishes to increase nutritional content. The fresh leaves can be added to salads or cooked like spinach with a little onion, butter and salt.<br /><br />The flowers are great for attracting bees. They can be eaten too or steeped in hot water to make a tea but I prefer to leave them on the tree because of the valuable pods they produce. These pods are food too and can be eaten when they first appear; still young and tender. Cook them much like green beans. When the pods harden into seeds these "peas" as they are called can be harvested as food too. They will take a little more effort to cook than regular peas though. There is a stickly bitter film around them that must be washed and even cooked off. The first cook water then is thrown out. This only takes a few minutes. Then they are cooked as regular peas.<br /><br />The best part of the pods though is the rich Ben Oil that can be pressed from them. This has more value to me than eating them as a vegetable. The seed is said to contain 35-40% oil. It is a very useful oil that is claimed not to go rancid and burns without smoke. I have yet to prove that for myself. More later. If you do not have an oil press you can always roast the seeds, grind them up and put this in boiling water so that the oil will float to the surface. The spent pods after removing the oil are amazing at clarifying the most muddy water.<br /><br />The gum found in the bark is used as seasoning over food. It has also been used in calico printing and medicines. The bark and gum can be used in tanning hides. The bark can also be beaten into a fibre to make ropes or mats.The wood produces a blue dye which is used in Jamaica and Senegal. I plan to try this with Angora wool. Paper can also be made from the wood pulp. It is no good as firewood because it is too soft and spongy.<br /><br />I have heard it called the miracle tree. No surprise.<br /><br />Until next time,<br />ChelleCYARAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07371635888720778017noreply@blogger.com2